What’s on the first screen of my iPhone — August 2010

It’s been 8-9 months since I last surveyed what I’m using on my iPhone.

On the first screen,

* the bottom bar is still Mail/Messages/Calendar/Safari, I use each of these apps countless times during the day. Calendar is probably the least deserving. The ios4 Mail app is a tremendous improvement over prior versions, thanks to the merging of my 4 inboxes into 1.
* the stock Weather/Stocks/Maps/Camera/Calculator/Clock/Phone apps are all there. I don’t love any of these, they all have problems. Why do I have to enter cities in Weather and Clock? Why can’t Stocks show portfolio information? The Maps app hasn’t changed in forever, why can’t it import map settings from my laptop (ChromeToPhone sounds awesome). I have tried to find other stock apps but they all kind of blow.
* the Settings app remains on the first page mostly so I can force Wifi on/off and force 3g on/off as i transition between various locations. Why isn’t the settings app just a folder now?
* Echofon for twitter use and Byline for RSS readings make the first page. I am sure there are other fine choices in these spaces but these work well for me.
* Evernote is on the first page and I am a total convert. I use this for all kinds of info, every day. And I am now trying to use it for my todo list management, tho the inability to enter todo items on the iphone sucks, hence my current trial of…
* Egretlist. Which basically exposes all todo items in Evernote. The UI is horrendous — garish, amateurish. But functional.
* Lose it! for calorie tracking tho my usage has fallen off (and my waist line shows it!)
* 2 Across for NYTimes crosswards. There are newer and more uptodate alternatives but this one is solid.
* and finally a Travel folder with TripIt, KAYAK, Southwest, Flight update as the key elements. Yelp, Urbanspoon, Topo Maps, Google Earth, OneBusAway, Point Inside, Zagat, Trip Journal also take spots in there tho I am not committed to any of them.

With football season approaching, some score app will fight back to the top screen — the ESPN sportscenter app or one of the other competitors, I will have to try them all. The ESPN app is fine tho it sometimes grinds to a halt on busy days.

On secondary screens, the other apps that get some use — Facebook, the App Store, Amazon.com, Starbucks Mobile Card, tideApp, Goodreads, Soundhound.